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gingpin
Jan 271 min read
Thanks for the Pushcart Nomination, Press 53!
I was deeply honored in January 2025 when Press 53 nominated me for a Pushcart Prize. The nomination was for a short story called...
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gingpin
Jan 271 min read
Coming Soon: The Train to Santa Fe
It's official! THE TRAIN TO SANTA FE, my third novel, will be released by the amazing Regal House Publishing on August 26, 2026. I'm...
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gingpin
Aug 27, 20224 min read
Praise for Snakes of St. Augustine
Snakes of St. Augustine was released by Regal House Publishing on September 12, 2023. (Order here.) Reviews can be found here: Southern...
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gingpin
Mar 29, 20221 min read
What is Left After a Pandemic?
Check out my review of Carla Rachel Sameth's darkly humorous collection of pandemic-era poems, What is Left. The review appears on the...
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gingpin
Aug 10, 20211 min read
Thank you, Regal House Publishing!
I'm honored and thrilled to work with Regal House Publishing (RHP) -- an independent, traditional publisher with a stellar reputation for...
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gingpin
May 15, 20212 min read
Writing Prompt: What Have You Seen With Your Own Eyes?
WASHOUT -- The sea turtle eggs, round and pale as golf balls, gaped from the side of the dune where the overheated, angry ocean had...
101 views1 comment


gingpin
Dec 23, 20204 min read
Southern Belles and Carpet Buzzers
The fearless woman who helped demolish my garage cabinets was crouched on my staircase, painting the walls when I asked if her partner, a...
152 views0 comments


gingpin
Nov 14, 20202 min read
Down the Rabbit Hole: Craft Notes
Jake Wolff recently won the Internet. Wolff, a creative writing professor, editor and director of The Florida Review, and author of The...
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gingpin
Nov 14, 20204 min read
In Celebration of the Common Riffraff
Looming from her second-floor balcony, the owner confronted me, twitchy as a highlighted chicken. “You weren’t expecting to come inside,...
199 views6 comments


gingpin
Oct 18, 20201 min read
The FWA Saves 2020
2020 unleashed a global pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, and many bad DIY haircuts, but on Oct. 17, a nice thing happened. I won a gold...
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gingpin
Oct 18, 20202 min read
The Sausage on the Roof
This essay was written while my daughter was still in Nepal: When my boyfriend Mickey first hurled the slice of cooked Italian sausage...
131 views4 comments


gingpin
Oct 4, 20206 min read
Black Mermaids Matter
Months before the brutal police killing of George Floyd, before the protests when I made a sign saying, “I Can’t Breathe” and "Stop the...
650 views4 comments


gingpin
May 18, 20207 min read
Crossing by Myself
Editor’s Note: I wrote this travelogue-style essay in November 2018, while visiting my daughter Caroline during her service with Peace...
157 views1 comment

gingpin
Jan 5, 20205 min read
Writing Prompt: What’s Your Most Cherished Childhood Place?
My friend Alan as a young boy, standing on his uncle's shoulders in Brazil, ready to leap into his future, with many cousins in the...
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gingpin
Jul 28, 20193 min read
Writing Prompt: You See a Body of Water ...
Is it a freshwater pond? If so, is the water stagnant and murky, or clear, with light dancing on its surface? Maybe the body of water is...
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gingpin
Jul 2, 20193 min read
Me Write Pretty One Day
Whenever I’m learning a new skill – let’s say, how to properly document a sea turtle nest, surf tiny waves, or make toast without burning...
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gingpin
Jun 9, 20192 min read
The 13 Moons of Writer's Block
“It’s just that my protagonist doesn’t want her brother to die,” I told a traveling companion at a café in Kathmandu. “I think it might...
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gingpin
Jun 9, 20192 min read
Plot Goddess Invents QVC Queen
The struggle was real. After reading my forthcoming novel, City in a Forest, an editor whose opinion I trust (Kim Sheeter) pointed out...
37 views0 comments


gingpin
Jun 9, 20191 min read
Epic Snake Orgy Cures Writer's Block
In my third novel, Seeing Gethin, my protagonist’s brother is crazy about snakes—brown, red, spotted, striped, harmless, venomous, or...
55 views0 comments


gingpin
Sep 20, 20181 min read
Why I Was Mean - From Eckerd Review
My goal, in this nonfiction essay, was to provide a first-hand report on what Russ Douthat described in The New York Times as the 1970s...
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